First you have the Cleric spells, then you have Channel Energy, and then you have your Domain powers. Domain powers have their own system (cast a number of times equal to your spellcasting modifier), as does Channel Energy (cast a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier +3) and Divine spellcasting (where you get a fixed amount of spells with DCs modified by your Wisdom, along with different spells based on your Domain).
I understand why these things are separated, but the class feels very busy. If I could, I'd axe the Domain powers, or just merge the Domain Powers with Channel Energy.
Problem though is the cleric is forced to be a healer so leaving channel separate so that can do other things actually is a good thing imo. Honestly when I played today I only cast one spell the rest was domain and channel. Personally if they did that they really need to tweak the spell list..losing divine favor really sucked
I like channel to be considered more of a replacement for the wizards specialty school/ arcane focus. Only for Heal.
Honestly this is nothing compared to PF1, where each individual ability had to be tracked.
Clerics also are pretty strong in combat.
Oh yeah, I understand *why* it's done. It just feels like a more elegant solution to accomplish that should exist. I wouldn't mind Domains being made as small as Arcane Schools are, and be bolstered by feats like how Empowering Focus can boost Wizard specialists.